Carpaccio, Vittore (1450/60-1525/26)

Italian painter. He is famous for scenes of his native Venice, for example, the series The Legend of St Ursula (1490-98; Accademia, Venice). His paintings are a graceful blend of fantasy and closely observed details from everyday life.

His real name was Scarpazza, and he probably came from a family established in the Venetian islands. He is said to have been a pupil of Lorenzo Bastiani, but was evidently influenced by Gentile Bellini, with whom he vied in depicting the aspect and ceremony of Venice. He was much employed by the scuole or confraternities of Venice and his charm and narrative gift are beautifully displayed in his cycles of the Life of St Ursula (1490-95) painted for the Scuola di Sant' Orsola and now in the Accademia, Venice, and the Life of St George and other saints for the Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni (1502-07). The Miracle of the Cross at Rialto (Accademia) is remarkable for its typically Venetian background and, as a form of genre picture (though perhaps a fragment of a larger work), also famous is the so-called Courtesans (Correr Museum, Venice).